Stills of a Lifetime
by ilajkajas2215
Summary: A collection of one-shots throughout Calleigh and Eric's life together as captured in the pictures in their living room. Complete Hiphugger fluff.
1. Prologue

A/N: Okay, so this is my first foray into the CSI: Miami world-as an author anyway. I was writing for Criminal Minds, but I'm rather furious at the show/show writers right now so those projects have been put on hold. This one is something that popped into my mind when I was watching an episode of Miami the other day and it sort of wouldn't leave me alone. It's complete and utter fluff, so if you're looking for angst, you won't find it here. Please read, I hope you enjoy it, and regardless of if you do or not, please feel free to drop me a line and let me know what you think! Also, I'm posting the first real chapter at the same time, because this is just a prologue that sort of sets up everything else, so at least try out that chapter as it's a much better display of how the rest of the story will be.

* * *

_**Stills of a Lifetime**_

**Prologue**

_They had more photographs than they would ever know what to do with. Hundreds, thousands, _millions_ of pictures. _

_Eric was pretty sure that they had enough pictures to fill up an entire house—thank God that some of them were still in digital form or they may not have any space to live—but he'd be lying if he said that he'd get rid of any of them._

_Most of them were sitting in boxes, neatly labeled in Calleigh's elegant script indicating when or where that particular box of photographs related to. It was just like her to keep it all neat and organized. If it was up to him, half of them probably never would have been developed and the ones that had would have all been thrown in a trunk._

_That was the beauty of their relationship, though; they kept one another balanced._

_And while Eric thought that they had entirely too many pictures in general, as he circled the modestly sized living room of their shared home, he couldn't help but admire the way that these pictures documented their life together._

_Each picture in this room was contained by a dark wood frame, giving it a homogenized and organized look, but the way that they were grouped and scattered showed the combining of Calleigh and Eric's conflicting styles. _

_Eric couldn't help himself; every time that he was in this room, he had to study the pictures. They spoke volumes of the happiness and the love shared by the occupants of their cozy home and those that they were closest to._


	2. Chapter 1

A/N: Here's chapter one. I'm posting it simultaneously with the prologue because the prologue is really just setting up the premise. Let me know what your thoughts are on the piece and if I should continue this.

* * *

_**Chapter One**_

As he picked up the photo nearest to him, there was no containing the grin that slid across his face. He stroked the glass over the face of the gorgeous blonde that he owed every single second of his happiness to.

The moment captured in this particular image was from about a year after they'd started dating. She was perched on his lap, donning a black New Orleans Saints jersey, while his own strong figure was wrapped in a brand new white Dolphins jersey.

He recalled that this was actually the second picture taken as they sat there on the couch. In the first one, they were nicely posed, both of them smiling widely at the camera.

In this one though, her nose was wrinkled distastefully and he had a shit-eating ear-to-ear grin plastered across his own face, but both of their eyes were sparkling and it was clearly a playful moment.

)))

"_Babe?" Eric called out as he entered the house that they'd recently purchased together._

"_Kitchen!" her soft voice replied._

_He slid his shoes off and quickly traversed the hallway, smiling when he saw her standing over the stove, stirring something that smelled delightful._

"_Mmm, what's that?" he asked. He set his paper bag of groceries down on the table and slid his arms around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder as he took in the red sauce that was simmering in the pan in front of his girlfriend._

"_The buffalo sauce for those wings you promised that you'd make," she rolled her green eyes at him._

"_Hey, it was _your_ idea to have everyone over here, not to mention, it was you who sent me off to the store to get more chips. Otherwise, I'd absolutely be making the wings myself," he defended himself, kissing her neck gently._

"_How could I not invite everyone? It's the Dolphins versus the Saints in the Superbowl…we've only been waiting for this for what? Like ten years?" she pointed out, subconsciously tilting her head to give him better access to her skin._

"_Yeah, something like that," he agreed. However excited he was about this game—his beloved Dolphins were finally about to win it all—he was rather distracted by the flowery scent that her freshly washed hair was letting off._

"_Eric, not now. Everyone's going to be here in an hour and your wings aren't ready and we're not dressed," Calleigh complained._

"_Come on Cal, you know we can always make time," Eric cajoled, nipping at her earlobe. It was one of her favorite things and she knew that he was doing it on purpose. He'd almost convinced her too before she mustered all of her willpower and pulled away from him, removing herself from his grasp and taking a few steps away._

"_No way. You always say that and then we're always late. Normally, I can deal with that when the payoff is so good," she ignored his cocky smirk, "but today if we're running late, we're likely to have Horatio walk in on us. And I don't know about you, but that's definitely not something I want to happen."_

_Eric's smirk disappeared as soon as the thought of Horatio walking in on them penetrated his lust-fogged mind. It was replaced by a pout that she could only describe as adorable._

"_I'll make a deal with you though," she proposed as he stirred his buffalo sauce on the stove idly._

_His ears perked up. "I'm listening."_

"_Whoever's team wins tonight gets to call the shots for the next week. _And, _the loser has to clean up tonight after everyone leaves," she said._

"_You know that your stupid Saints don't stand a chance, right?" Eric cocked an eyebrow._

"_Says you," she shrugged. "Take it or leave it."_

_He considered only briefly. Calling the shots in bed for a whole week including deciding when and where; she wouldn't be allowed to complain even if he made her late to work every single day the whole week. "Deal."_

"_Seal it with a kiss?"_

_He grinned and pressed his lips to hers softly but sensually._

_She rolled her eyes and pushed him away when he tried to slip his tongue between her lips. "You're incorrigible."_

"_I can't help it. You're kind of hot," he shrugged and turned back to the sauce._

_)))  
_

"_Is it just me or is it kind of cute the way that they won't even acknowledge each other even though she's sitting on his lap?" Natalia asked Valera as they both refilled their plates with food and took in the rest of the group._

_Ryan was perched on the edge of the recliner edgily, bursting with tension and muttering to himself after random plays, Horatio was watching with a keen, but silent eye from the other recliner, Walter was sitting on one side of the loveseat that Valera had been occupying the other half of, and Natalia's seat on the couch next to their hosts was empty for the moment._

_Calleigh had been scooped into Eric's lap when beer had been spilled on the cushion she'd claimed as her own. There was now a wet spot where she'd been sitting, courtesy of Ryan knocking a bottle off of the small table behind the couch._

_She was comfortable in his arms, but they weren't actually speaking to each other because they were currently locked into the battle that was taking place on the screen. The Dolphins were winning by ten points with dwindling time, but Eric chose not to comment just yet._

_When the game was over, Eric didn't bother to restrain his victorious smile as Calleigh slumped against him dejectedly._

"_Hey, smile you two, I want to take a picture," Natalia said motioning them closer together._

"_I don't think I can smile right now, Natalia," Calleigh pouted._

"_Oh come on, just pretend. I should've taken it earlier, but I forgot. Don't you want to remember tonight? Who knows if the Saints and the Dolphins will ever be in the Superbowl again," Natalia pointed out._

"_I don't want to remember tonight. I don't like to lose," Calleigh said stubbornly._

"_Come on Cal, just smile," Eric cajoled._

_She huffed but forced a smile onto her face, allowing Eric to wrap his arm around her waist and they turned their smiling faces to the camera._

"_Let me up, I should start cleaning up," Calleigh sighed taking in their trashed living room once Natalia had taken the picture._

"_You know, I'd offer to help, but a bet is a bet and you lost," Eric shrugged with a smirk. "Don't wear yourself out too much cleaning up though, because that was only half the bet, and I have to say, I'm much more excited about the second half of the bet."_

"_You're really not gonna help me?" Calleigh asked, shock evident on her face._

"_In all fairness, I _did_ warn you that you were gonna lose," Eric gave her a huge grin, trying not to laugh at her disgusted face._

_His attempts at not laughing failed when he heard the little beep of Natalia's camera. "That picture is going to be priceless."_

)))

If he recalled correctly, he _had_ ended up helping her clean up the mess of their friends. But not before he'd started to collect on the second half of their bet—on the kitchen table.

He chuckled lightly at the picture as he remembered the glorious week that had followed that night. It had been quite the week, if he did say so himself.

Eric replaced the frame on the shelf with due reverence and picked up the next one, the playful grin on his face immediately replaced by a much more sentimental one.

* * *

A/N: Both of these chapters were un-betaed, so I'm really sorry if there was any mistakes. If there were any that hindered the understandability, let me know and I'll do my best to fix it. Thanks!


	3. Chapter 2

_**Chapter Two**_

The picture frame that Eric held in his hands was of a familiar weight. This was possibly his favorite picture in the entire world and he'd stood in this very spot and held this picture more times than he could begin to count.

The four people in the depiction were all sleeping, but that didn't make it any less a fantastic picture. It defined the beauty of it, in fact.

The quartet of figures was asleep on top of the covers of the bed in the guest bedroom of his parents' house after a long afternoon of running around with the entire family at the park near the house.

)))

"_Papi!" the voice of Mateo Delko squealed excitedly as he charged at his father's legs._

"_Hey Buddy," Eric scooped his four-year-old into his arms, grinning at the happy expression on the boy's face. He had Calleigh's smile. Eric loved that. Every other part of the little boy screamed _Eric_; the shape of his hazel eyes, the full lips, and even the look he got on his face when he was concentrating really hard. But Matty's smile, that was all Calleigh._

"_Look," Matty said proudly holding his leg away from Eric's body and pointing._

_Eric looked and cringed when he saw that there was blood dripping out of Matty's little knee. "Matty, qué pasó?" Eric questioned._

"_Estaba jugando y me caí," Matty shrugged, clearly not concerned with his injury. He seemed rather proud of himself, in fact._

"_Calleigh!" Eric called over to his wife as he shook his head and carried Matty over to one of the nearby picnic tables, depositing him on the flat surface._

"_Yeah?" she inquired, approaching her two favorite boys._

"_Do you have any Band-Aids? Rambo here got a battle wound," Eric indicated their son's bloody knee._

_Calleigh sighed when she saw the blood, but just headed for the bag that she always carried full of easy first aid items. With Matty and his sister, it was always something. She was just glad that they weren't criers. As adventurous as the twins were, they were both rather prone to accidents, but thankfully they took them in stride and were never too upset over the minor cuts and scrapes of childhood._

"_What happened?" Marisol scampered over to where her Daddy and twin brother were stationed at the picnic table._

"_I fell," Matty announced with a grin._

_Marisol reached out to poke the injury, but Eric moved faster. "Mari," he said warningly as he captured her little hand in his own._

_She pouted up at him, defiance covering her every feature. She reached out again._

_He sighed and picked her up so that she was too far above Matty to be able to reach his knee. "You can't touch it, querida. If you do, you could get dirt in it and it could get infected," Eric explained to his little girl._

"_Then what?" she wanted to know._

"_Then it might not heal as easy and it might hurt more. You don't want it to hurt more, do you?" Calleigh reasoned._

"_No," Mari shook her head, her light brown curls bouncing._

"_You got it covered Cal?" Eric asked._

"_Yep," Calleigh agreed, expertly spraying the antibacterial stuff on Matty's knee and dabbing it before he could even start to complain that it stung. "You two go play; Matty'll be back in action in just a minute."_

"_Can we play on the monkey bars!" Mari asked her father excitedly, pointing to where her cousins were across the park._

"_Por supuesto, princesa," Eric agreed easily and set her down. She immediately took off for the monkey bars. "Thanks Baby," Eric kissed Calleigh on the temple and ruffled Matty's hair before following Mari across the park._

_)))  
_

"_Someone needs a nap," Calleigh sighed as Matty got a determinedly obstinate look on his face as he stomped his foot at his cousin later that evening at the house. Calleigh and Eric were sitting on the couch, his arm comfortably around her shoulders as the relaxed, waiting for dinner to be ready._

"_Two someones," Eric corrected as he nodded toward Marisol who was drooping against Pavel's chest._

"_Dibs on Mari," Calleigh grinned and Eric shook his head with a sigh. Trying to talk a grumpy Matty into taking a nap wasn't a task for someone weak of heart._

_Calleigh gave him a victorious smile as she lifted the girl from Pavel's arms and carried her to the back bedroom._

"_Matty, you wanna go lay down?" Eric asked his son._

_Matty's face pinched—another Calleigh look, Eric noted—and stomped his foot again. "NO!"_

"_Come on Buddy, why not? We'll just go lie down and listen to a story with Mami and Mari," Eric coaxed. He could see the exhaustion on his son's face and his heart went out to the little boy._

"_A story?" Matty repeated._

"_Uh huh. Mami and Mari are already back there waiting," he nodded._

"_Okay," Matty agreed after a moment of contemplation._

_Eric smiled thankfully. Pavel nodded to his son, also smiling. Both men had been expecting a much worse battle, but that had been pretty easy—if only it was _always_ that easy._

"_NO!" Matty whined and squirmed frantically out of Eric's hands when Eric tried to lift him into his arms. "Okay, okay, you can walk yourself," Eric rolled his eyes. _

'_Oh four-year-olds when they need a nap,' he thought. _

_Matty scrambled onto the bed next to Calleigh and buried himself between his sister and mother as Eric walked around to the opposite side and lay down on the open side of Mari, completing their little family._

"_Papi dijo que you're gonna tell us a story?" Matty asked, mixing his Spanish and English words as he yawned, both the yawn and the language mixing speaking to his truly tired state just as much as his near-tantrum had._

"_Oh he did, did he? I think it was actually Papi who was gonna tell the story," Calleigh cocked her eyebrow at Eric over the kids' heads._

_Eric grinned but waited until everyone was settled before he launched into a story about a mouse prince and his humble followers, the frog, the bumble bee, and the duck._

"_Me gusta patos," Mari mumbled, her eyes closed._

"_I know princesa," Eric agreed, kissing her soft hair, his own eyes beginning to droop now that he was lying down and relaxed._

_)))  
_

His sister had taken the picture that he now held in his hands when she'd come in to rouse the family for dinner.

Eric was lying on his left side his right arm flung up, resting on his own cheek, a position that he'd slept in his entire life. His left hand was also above his head, but stretched resting on the pillows above the heads of Mari and Matty. His hand was linked with Calleigh's right hand, creating enclosed space in which the kids were snuggled.

Calleigh herself was resting on her right side, facing her family. Other than the hand linked with Eric's, her left arm was curled tightly against her body, her fist resting under her chin, her head bowed forward, resting on the arm reaching out to Eric. This had always been her default position as well.

What really made him smile though, wasn't himself and Calleigh. It was Matty and Mari.

Matty was sleeping on his left side, facing Calleigh, and was the exact image of his father. His chubby little right arm was flung over his face and his left arm bent under his head. Matty's mouth was even pursed just slightly like his father's.

Mari was on her right side, like her mother, with her back to her twin and her face almost buried in Eric's chest. Like Calleigh, her left hand was fisted right beneath her bowed head and her right arm was curled beneath her arm.

This was definitely one of Eric's favorite. How could it not be? He thought it was the most adorable thing in the world, the way that he and Calleigh subconsciously formed a barrier between their babies and the world. Then, within the barrier, were two little perfect mixtures of her pale skin, blonde hair, and green eyes and his tan skin, brown hair, and brown eyes. The twins' lighter brown hair and medium toned skin were cute all the time, but the way that the kids mirrored Calleigh and his positions made him smile every single time.

He lingered on this picture a moment longer than the last before replacing it next to its companions.

The next one he retrieved was as posed as the one he'd returned was candid, but there was no less happiness and love held within the dark wood frame.

* * *

A/N: Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed the first two chapters! It means a lot to me that people are enjoying this so far. So, this was the next installment, please let me know what you think of this one too! It's un-betaed, so let me know if there are any huge errors. Hope you enjoyed :)


	4. Chapter 3

_**Chapter Three**_

This picture represented one of the happiest moments of Eric's life. It wasn't an image of the actual moment, but it held the same sentiment and brought forth the same memories nonetheless.

The feelings that had coursed through him on that day, eleven years ago, on the beach was one of the best compilations of happiness and love that Eric had ever felt in his life. Rivaling even the moments that he'd first held his children in his arms.

)))

"_Come on," Calleigh tugged on Eric's arm, urging him forward._

"_Why are you in such a hurry?" Eric laughed, but followed his girlfriend along more than willingly. He'd let her lead him anywhere._

"_Because, if we don't hurry, we'll miss it. Besides, we have to get to work soon," Calleigh reminded him and continued to hurry across the sand of their favorite beach._

_Eric rolled his eyes but increased his pace to make her happy. He still wasn't sure why she'd been so insistent about coming out here this morning when they had to be at work in two short hours. Darkness was still settled across the beach, the stars just starting to disappear due to the impending sunrise. Really, he would have been just as happy to remain in bed until they absolutely _had_ to get up, but she'd clearly had different ideas._

"_Here," she said, stopping suddenly._

_He crashed into her when she halted and his body almost knocked hers to the ground. But thankfully, he caught her in time and held her against his own solid body to prevent her crashing to the sand beneath them._

"_Here," she repeated._

"_Okay, okay," he laughed. He spread out the blanket that she'd handed him from the trunk of the car and sat down in the middle of it._

_She sat in front of him, between his legs, snuggling into his warm embrace, just as he'd expected she would. He loved sitting with her like this, it was like he completely surrounded her and nothing from the outside world could reach her. Everything that mattered most to him in the world was right there in his arms._

"_So, why were you so set on coming out here?" Eric inquired against her ear as they cuddled together._

"_I wanted to see the sunrise," she told him simply._

"_Babe…we can see the sunrise from our bed," Eric groaned as he realized that she'd essentially dragged him out here for no real reason._

"_It's different from out here," Calleigh shrugged._

_Eric shook his head but couldn't help the chuckle that bubbled from his chest at her statement. She said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world and he definitely should have known it._

"_Whatever you say," Eric said. He wasn't really bothered by the fact that she'd woken him before dawn and dragged him down the beach just to watch the sunrise. Sure, he'd be tired later at work, but it was well worth it just to revel in a few quiet moments with her before the insanity of the day engulfed them._

"_I just like sunrise…" Calleigh commented._

"_It's beautiful," Eric agreed._

"_That's not the only reason that I like it," Calleigh told him._

"_Tell me?" he requested. He'd known her for somewhere in the neighborhood of fifteen years, but there was still so much that he didn't know about how her mind worked. Every single little fact that he learned about her captivated him and left him wanting more._

"_I don't know…there's just something so serene about it. It's beautiful but in a simplistic kind of way and I know it's kind of stupid, but I like that it's at the beginning of a new day. Makes me kind of remember that no matter how crappy yesterday was, today's different and has the potential to be great," Calleigh answered after a moment of contemplation._

_She normally would have kept thoughts like that to herself, not wanting to sound stupid, but that was a moot point here. In Eric's arms she felt safer than she did anywhere else—both physically and mentally—so she was surprisingly okay sharing with her boyfriend/best friend combo._

_Eric smiled against her shoulder. He loved that she felt comfortable enough to tell him that. He knew that she didn't like to share her private thoughts and it meant so much to him that she chose to open up to him._

"_Thanks for coming out here with me," Calleigh said quietly as the top of the sun began to peek over the ocean._

"_I'll go anywhere with you, Cal," Eric whispered._

_And it was true. He wanted to spend every single day of the rest of his life with her by his side. He knew that it wouldn't always be easy—they're both very stubborn people with strong personalities—but he also knew that there was no one else he'd rather fight with and that the good moments would more than make up for the bad ones. He would do anything to make her happy and he knew that she felt the same way about him, and at the end of the day, that was what mattered._

"_Marry me, Cal," his heart spoke before his brain had caught up. It didn't matter through, it was what he wanted, both heart _and_ mind. That's why he'd been carrying around that ring, been feeling it the weight of it burn a hole through his pocket, for the last month or so._

_She turned her upper body in his arms to look him in the eye, shock evident on her face. "What?"_

"_Marry me. I love you and I want to spend my life with you, so marry me," he repeated._

"_Are you sure?" Calleigh asked._

"_Cal…that's not exactly the answer I was looking for," Eric hedged, nerves suddenly knotting his stomach. He'd been so confident when the words slipped from his lips, but now he wasn't so sure. Did she not love him as much as he loved her?_

"_I know that's not an answer. I know what I want to say, but I need to know that you're sure first," she explained._

"_I'm sure. I'm more than sure—I'm _positive_. I love you, Calleigh. I've probably loved you since the day that I met you and you wouldn't give me your number. You're my best friend and I trust you more than anyone else and I can't imagine not getting to hold you every single day for the rest of my life," Eric justified. She knew her answer, but she wanted to make sure he was sure? That meant she wanted to say yes but was afraid that it wasn't what he actually wanted._

"_Come on Cal, you know I wouldn't have asked if I wasn't sure. I've been carrying around this ring for the last month, waiting for the right moment, but no moment seemed good enough. I just realized though…it's not about if the moment is a perfect one without a ring, it's about if it's a moment that is worthy of remembering forever with a ring," Eric continued._

"_You've been carrying the ring around?" she asked._

"_Every day," Eric nodded. He reached into his sweatpants pocket and pulled out the small box. He flipped open the lid and revealed the beautiful piece to her. "Partially because I knew that was the only way you would find it and partially because I've been waiting for the right time."_

_It was white gold and had a simple, but stunning, princess cut diamond with two smaller diamonds on either side. It was perfect._

"_You're sure? Well I'm sure too. Of course I'll marry you, Eric," Calleigh flung herself into his strong arms, toppling him backwards onto the blanket._

_The elation that filled his body was like nothing he'd ever felt. Calleigh was going to—officially—be his forever. He could call her his wife and openly hold her hand like she belonged to him and he belonged to her. It was a heady feeling that was accentuated by the feel of her lips pressing against his insistently._

_With that, he tossed aside whatever he'd been thinking about and kissed her back._

_When they'd finally separated, he held up the little velvet box to her with a huge, expectant grin._

"_No," Calleigh shook her head and pushed the box away from her._

"_No?" he asked, confused. Hadn't she just said yes?_

"_You can't just hand it to me," she rolled her eyes at him. "You have to put it on me yourself."_

"_I believe that that can be arranged," Eric grinned at her and pulled the ring from its resting place. He slipped the ring over her finger and seeing it nestled on her left ring finger took his breath away momentarily. He'd actually done it. For a while after he'd bought it, he'd thought he was insane. He was insane to think that this perfect woman would want to be with him forever._

"_I love you so much," Calleigh whispered, snuggling back into his arms and holding her hand out in front of both of them, displaying her ring._

"_I love you too," he murmured against her ear._

_As they sat there, in each other's embrace, watching the sun come up on what wasn't just a new day but a new chapter for them, Eric was positive that nothing could ever make him feel so far off the ground._

_)))  
_

Sure, he'd been proven wrong, he thought as he looked at the picture in his hand. He'd been proven wrong quite a few times, in fact. There was the day that he watched her walk down the aisle toward him on the arm of Duke, there was the day that she told him that she was pregnant, there was moment that he'd held each of his kids in his arms, and the list continued, but he wasn't surprised, retrospectively. How could his life not have been filled with perfect moments when Calleigh was the one he was sharing those moments with?

It all came back to her agreeing to be his wife though. That was the only reason he'd agreed to go to a professional photographer and get engagement pictures taken, which had produced the image her currently gazed upon.

In this particular one—his favorite from that entire bunch—the camera only captured them from mid-chest and upward in a profile shot.

They were both wearing white shirts, hers a tank top, and his a button up with the sleeves rolled to his elbows. His arm was resting around her waist, his tan skin against her white shirt making up the bottom border of the picture. Their foreheads were pressed together, their noses brushing and their eyes locked in an intense stare.

His lips we curved up in a grin, smirking about something she had just whispered to him—he no longer remembered what specifically had slipped off her tongue—and face was likewise covered by a radiant smile.

The crowning gem of the picture that always made him think of that morning at the beach was the way her left hand was reaching up, her fingers lightly cupping his cheek, that diamond ring displayed proudly on her ring finger, glittering in the bright Miami sun, her pale, creamy skin contrasting greatly with his dark caramel cheek.

He knew that the second she'd agreed to wear the ring, she'd damned him to a life of eternal happiness. He'd been right to this point in their life together, there had been moments of irate tears, of screaming, of bitter words and glares; there had been fights, misunderstandings, nights clouded by angry silence; but those of course were not the ones that _really_ mattered. Sure, they spoke to the fact that they'd stood by each other even through the bad time, but the moments that _really _mattered were the ones the made the bad ones worth it.

For every bad moment, there had been ten thousand moments of smiles, of laughter, of teasing smirks, of good-natured rolling of the eyes, of pure bliss and he knew that there were ten million more to be had. As far as Eric concerned, these were the moments that defined a relationship and it all came back to the day on the beach that he'd asked her to spend the rest of her life with him.

* * *

A/N: Here's the next installment of pure fluff :). Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, your kind words mean the world to me! This is un-betaed, so any mistakes are purely my own and I apologize. I hope you liked it, please let me know; reviews make my day! Enjoy :)


	5. Chapter 4

_**Chapter Four**_

Eric picked up the last picture on the shelf he was standing in front of and smiled yet again. This smile wasn't just about his own happiness though; it was about the happiness of his closest friends as well.

It had taken Ryan a really long time to listen to Eric and Calleigh before he finally got his head out of his ass and asked Natalia to go out again. Once their relationship restarted, they'd had a whirlwind courtship—quite the opposite of the hundred year slow dance toward each other that Eric and Calleigh had endured—that had culminated in Ryan and Natalia walking down the aisle after six months together.

)))

"_No, no quiero llevarlo," the three-year-old Matty whined, trying to scoot away from his father who was attempting to attach the light blue silk tie around his neck._

"_Come on, mijo, _please_?" Eric sighed, trying again to slip the tie around his little boy's neck to attach the Velcro._

"_No!" Matty twisted his head and eluded the tie again._

"_What's going on in here?" Calleigh's low voice asked as she entered the room after hearing her son's protests._

"_He won't put it on, Cal," Eric sighed defeatedly._

_Calleigh rolled her eyes and held out her hand for the tie. Eric willingly handed it to her, mentally rolling his own eyes; she stood no chance._

"_Matty porque no quieres llevarlo?" Calleigh asked._

"_No," he said simply, turning his little face away from his mother._

"_Papi's wearing one too. And so are Horatio and Uncle Ryan. Don't you want to look nice like them?" Calleigh asked, scooping the stubborn boy into her arms and pointing at Eric who had already donned his own tie._

_Matty looked at him appraisingly. "No."_

"_Come on, you don't want to let Uncle Ryan down, do you? Mari's wearing her dress and she looks really pretty and you're gonna walk down the aisle with her. Remember, just like we practiced last night? Plus, you can take it off as soon as we're done in church, I promise." _

_Matty wrinkled his nose. "Okay."_

_Calleigh grinned triumphantly and slid the tie around Matty's neck, and fastened the Velcro to secure it there._

_Eric was staring at her with his mouth open slightly. Had she really just managed in two minutes what he'd been struggling with for over twenty?_

"_Yeah Baby, that's how it's done," Calleigh patted him on the cheek on her way back out of the room._

"_Hey," Eric shot his arm out and snagged her around the waist, preventing her from departing._

"_What?"_

"_You didn't give me a chance to tell you…you look beautiful, cariña. Absolutely beautiful," he told her, his voice rumbling low and close to her, as he pulled her over to him. His hand left her arm and joined its mate at her waist._

"_Thanks, you don't look too bad yourself," Calleigh grinned up at him as his face neared hers and then he sealed his lips across hers._

"_Whoa, whoa, whoa, knock it off you two. It's _my_ wedding day," Ryan's voice pulled them apart._

_They separated their mouths, but Eric left his arms around her waist and her hands came to rest on his chest._

"_I can't help it. Doesn't my wife look gorgeous?" Eric asked his friend._

_Ryan appraised her in her knee length strapless light blue dress and couldn't help but agree with his friend. "He's right. You do look really nice, Cal."_

"_Thanks Ryan. You look fantastic," Calleigh smiled at her friend. She extricated herself from Eric's grasp and approached Ryan. She tugged gently at his white tie and made it lie flat and straight beneath the white vest that accented his tuxedo._

"_Thanks," Ryan smiled at her._

"_Of course. You all right? Natalia sent me out here to make sure she wouldn't be walking toward an empty alter," Calleigh asked._

"_I'm just fine. I just want to get on with it though; standing around is driving me crazy. Is _she_ okay?" Ryan asked, nerves apparent on his face._

"_She's ready. She said almost the exact same thing, she just wants to get it over with already," Calleigh told him with a comforting smile._

_)))_

_Eric met Ryan's eyes and threw him a supportive look from his position as third groomsman, behind Ryan's brother and Ryan's best friend from college._

_As the soft music started Eric watched the doorway at the back of the church and a gigantic grin split his face when the first people to appear through the door were none other than his babies. _

_Marisol was wearing a white dress with a sash that was the same light blue as the bridesmaids' dresses and the groomsmen's accents. In her left hand, she carried a small blue basket that had white roses sticking out of it. In her right hand, she held the hand of her twin brother._

_Matty was tugging her along as she looked around at all the people smiling at her. He, on the other hand, was much more focused on making it the whole way up the aisle like he'd been told to do._

_The pair of them made it up the aisle and then they seemed to forget what to do._

_Matty looked up at his father with confused eyes before he dropped his sister's hand and ran at Eric, immediately leaning against his long, strong legs. Mari, not about to be left behind, ran after her brother and leaned against Eric's other leg._

_Eric heard Ryan's chuckle and couldn't contain his own chuckle as he rested a hand on the kids' shoulders, keeping them there for at least the time being, even though it wasn't exactly how the plan was supposed to play out._

_Valera made her way down the aisle next, followed by Calleigh. Eric thought back to their own wedding day and shared a private smile with his wife, knowing that she was thinking about the same thing._

_Mari sprang from beneath Eric's hands when Calleigh reached the end of the aisle and took her place. The little girl raced across to her mother and wrapped her arm around Calleigh's slender leg._

_Eric reacted quickly and tightened his grip on Matty who was about to take a run at his mother as well. Eric pulled him back against his leg, just as Natalia's sister, Christine, took the spot next to Calleigh, followed by Anya as the maid of honor._

_The mini-drama with the twins came to a halt as the bridal march played._

_Eric glanced over at Ryan in time to see the full smile bloom across the man's face as Natalia approached._

_The ceremony continued without any major hitches. It was simple and beautiful and exactly what Natalia and Ryan had wanted for their service._

"_You may kiss the bride," the preacher prompted and Ryan and Natalia leaned towards one another, sharing a remarkably sweet kiss as their friends and family all clapped._

_Ryan and Natalia led the way back down the aisle._

"_That was so sweet," Calleigh whispered to Eric as he offered her his arm when it was their turn to recess following the other couples._

"_It was. It made me think of ours," he smiled down at her as they walked down the aisle, Matty and Marisol flanking them._

"_Yeah, me too. I'm so happy for them," Calleigh sighed, a dreamy look on her face._

"_Me too, they deserve it," Eric nodded._

"_Puedo quitarla?" Matty tugged at his tie as soon as they were out of the main room._

_)))_

The picture he now held was of the whole wedding party and had been taken immediately following the service once the church had cleared out.

They were all gathered on the steps of the altar and smiling brightly.

Eric grinned when he took in Calleigh's happy face and the smaller face of Mari as Calleigh held her. He looked across the group and saw Matty giving a wide grin from his own arms as well and remembered that they'd had to bribe him with the promise of ice cream to get him to agree to leave the tie on and smile for a few pictures.

The pinnacle of the picture, though, was Natalia and Ryan. They were fittingly at the center of the group, their arms around one another's waists. They were both smiling widely and it was obvious that they wouldn't have been able to stop smiling for anything.

Eric sighed and put the frame back on the shelf. He was so glad that his friends had found happiness—and he'd be lying if he said that he didn't like the fact that they'd found it in each other. The pair was still together today and with their son, Zack, they were a happy little family that Eric was pleased to say was so close to them, they were almost family as well.

With that, Eric moved away from this shelf and stood in front of the three pictures that took center stage as the only three pictures that adorned the long shelf at eye level in the middle of the wall unit.

* * *

A/N: To best honest, I wasn't huge on this chapter. I'm not sure why, I just didn't really like it. However, I wanted to show that it's not just the family that means a lot to their lives and that they have a lot of great memories with their work family too. So anyway, I hope you enjoyed it, let me know what you thought! The next chapter is actually all three of the pictures that I alluded to in one chapter, so that's a little bit different than the ones I've written before. Thanks for reading!


	6. Chapter 5

A/N: Sorry that this took so long, I went on vacation and got caught up in real life. Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter Five**

The biggest, most center picture, was of Calleigh and Eric on their wedding day. Her white dress was strapless with a simple top and intricate beading across the top, flowing into a long white skirt that was fanned perfectly over the steps, to show just how gorgeous the dress really was.

Eric was sad to say that he didn't have too many clear memories of that day. He'd been so deliriously happy that almost nothing had made a distinct impression on his mind. Save for one clear moment, that is.

"_Eric and Calleigh have chosen to write their own vows in addition to the traditional ones that they have just recited. Eric, would you like to start?" the preacher prompted._

_Eric took a deep breath. He'd practiced these words a million times in his head, but they'd all flown out of his brain the second that he'd spied her walking toward him in the fabulous dress, wearing a huge smile and carrying those red roses in her hand._

"_Cal, there really aren't words to explain how much you mean to me. You're my best friend and the love of my life, but you're so much more than that. You're the person that I want to go to sleep next to every single night and wake up next to every single morning. I can't imagine my life without you in it and I know that without you by my side, I could never be happy. You're everything to me and I can't wait to continue to build this life together that we started so long ago before we'd even realized it," Eric spoke in stream of conscious, trying to at least get in some of the beautiful words from the speech that he'd planned._

_He figured he'd done pretty well when a tear slipped from Calleigh's sparkling green eyes. He grinned and brushed the tear away with his big thumb._

_She cleared her throat resolutely and locked her eyes and hands with his. _

"_Eric…I used to not understand what love was. I fought it—you know that better than anyone, obviously—but you didn't let me win. In being with you, I've realized that love isn't just about the fact that you make me smile and hold me when I cry. It's about the intangibles. Like the fact that there's nothing that makes me feel better than bringing a smile to your face, or imagining the fact that I'm lucky enough to get to spend the rest of my life with you. I love you so much, and I'm so thankful that we made it here, after all this time."_

_A light chuckle filled the church at the last part of her sentence and Eric thought he heard Ryan mumble, "Seriously, it's about time," behind him, but nothing could draw his attention away from the picture perfect woman in front of him. Her green eyes drew him in and literally made it impossible for him to look away._

Their wedding had been one of the best days of his life and he regretted that he didn't remember every single moment of it, but a wedding was just one day. Their life together was defined by a million days, most of which she continued to make him the happiest man alive, like he'd been on that symbolic day.

The other two pictures on this shelf were both angled toward the wedding portrait, as if saying that it was the most important, but as Eric stared at them, he knew that they were both more important images in their life together.

The one to the right of the wedding portrait, he couldn't linger on too long. It made his stomach clench and flip and just all around made him uncomfortable. Tim Speedle stood between Eric and Calleigh in this one. Each of the three young adults had big smiles on their faces. They'd just come back from a day out on one of Speed's friend's boats and they all looked extra tanned and windblown, but the huge smiles they wore spoke to the happiness of a day off spent together.

Eric remembered the laughter and easy conversation that flowed between the three of them that day, but the pain that followed when he realized there would never again be carefree moments like that stopped him from dwelling on it.

He and Calleigh had talked about it when putting the pictures up and decided that this one was deserving of a place of honor. Speedle is the reason that they'd become such great friends to begin with. He'd been there at the beginning as they learned to trust each other and he'd helped cultivate that trust. Eric swore up and down that it was because of Speed that he hadn't talked Calleigh into bed within the first year and ruined everything that their relationship had become.

On top of that, Tim had been their best friend. Their pizza and movie nights had made the long weeks bearable and he was someone that neither of them wanted to forget, even though it was painful to remember. That was why they'd given Mateo the middle name Timothy in honor of their fallen comrade.

Eric glanced up at the ceiling and sent up a silent prayer that Speed was watching over them and was happy for him and Calleigh, even though there was no doubt in Eric's mind that he would have been.

He pushed aside those thoughts and turned to the final of the three pictures.

It was another professionally done photo shoot—as requested by his mother—and he couldn't remember ever being as tired as he had been after a day at the beach trying to get the kids to settle down and smile nicely for the cameraman.

"_Matty, sit down, _por favor_," Calleigh groaned, massaging her temples._

_Their eight-year-old was pretty much bouncing and getting sand everywhere as well as wrinkling his clothes in the process. He was so full of energy _all the time_ that sometimes she was convinced that he was taking caffeine pills behind their backs._

"_Quiero nadar," Matty said pointing at the ocean._

"_Bud, you aren't dressed for swimming anyway. You can't go swimming in nice clothes," Eric reminded the boy._

"_So? There's gotta be a bathing suit in the car. There's _always_ a bathing suit in the car," Matty pointed out to his father._

_Eric couldn't deny the truth of Matty's statement. Having active kids living in Miami practically came with a requirement to always have a bathing suit for each of the kids, as well as an assortment of outdoor toys in the car. Not to mention the fact that the kids loved swimming—a trait that he would proudly claim that he'd passed on to his offspring._

"_That's not the point. We don't have time to go swimming, that's not why we're here," a frazzled Calleigh told her eldest child._

"_Matty, please just behave. You can go swimming later if you do what we ask now. Besides, you know that if you don't behave, Ben won't behave either," Eric said. He rested his large hand on Calleigh's back and rubbed up and down a few times._

"_Fine," Matty agreed, his eyebrows pinching together unhappily._

_Eric accepted this and let the topic go, knowing Matty, he would be happy and bouncy again in less than ten minutes._

"_Where's Mari?" Calleigh asked, looking around. Normally she was great at keeping track of the kids, but it had been a crazy morning that had started way too early and now trying to get the kids all dressed and keep them clean until the photographer was ready was fraying Calleigh's last nerve._

"_She's got Olivia right there," he pointed to where their eight-year-old daughter was crouched over the car seat making silly faces at the eleven-month-old._

"_And where's—" Calleigh started but Eric cut her off._

"_Ben's right there, Babe. I'm watching him, don't worry," Eric indicated the three-year-old who was less than ten yards away, entertaining himself by filling a cup with sand and dumping it out on his feet._

"_He shouldn't be getting sand everywhere," Calleigh moaned, starting toward the boy._

"_Cal," Eric's voice stopped her. "You need to calm down. We're on the beach…they're gonna have sand on them. We'll brush them off for the picture, it's gonna be fine. You're freaking out."_

_She took a deep breath and met his brown eyes. There were tears and fear running rampant in the green eyes that he knew so well._

"_Baby…what's wrong?" he asked her quietly. His hands reached toward her and drew her closer to him, stroking her back lightly again._

"_Eric…they're all grown up," Calleigh choked out._

_He stared at her and was about to laugh when he realized just how much this was upsetting her. "Cal…they aren't all grown up. Yeah, they're growing up, but that's a good thing."_

"_I just…I just remember when the twins were babies and now Matty's arguing that he wants to go swimming and he knows that there's bathing suits in the car and everything. I want them to be babies again," she sighed. She very rarely got teary, but for some reason today it had hit her that her babies wouldn't be babies for long. She could remember the day that Mateo and Marisol were born like it had just happened and now they were eight years old. Soon they'd be going to high school and leaving for college and getting married and having kids. If they grew up that fast, there was no reason to believe that Benjamin and Olivia wouldn't do exactly the same._

"_Cal, they'll always be our babies. And that's why we do things like this, so that even when they really _are_ all grown up, we can look back and remember this. It's gonna be okay…just enjoy all the changes that we get to watch them make. That's why having such different ages is fun, isn't it?" he caressed her cheek, silently hoping that the tears wouldn't spill from her eyes. He hated seeing her cry._

"_I don't want them to grow up," she pouted._

"_I don't want them to grow up either, but think how much fun it's going to be when they're real people and we get to watch them do amazing things," Eric said._

"_Why are you so good at this? It's not fair," she continued to pout at him, but he could tell that her mood was lightening._

_Eric glanced over to where Matty had joined Ben and they appeared to be attempting to build a sandcastle and then over to where Marisol had begun tickling Olivia's feet, causing a shrieking laugh to fill the air._

"_I'm not that good at it," he admitted. "Last week when I picked up the kids from school, Mari was holding hands with some little boy and I demanded that Matty tell me everything he knew about the kid. It was like I was already picturing her getting married."_

"_Promise me they'll be kids for at least a little bit longer?" Calleigh sighed, falling into his embrace._

"_I promise," Eric told her and pressing a reassuring kiss to her forehead._

That day had been crazy, but the pictures had turned out great.

This one had been Calleigh and Eric's favorite.

Olivia was stationed between the twins, Mari on her right and Matty on her left, his head bent toward her just slightly. Ben was standing behind Olivia, just a bit taller on his short little three-year-old legs that the twins were while sitting, bringing nice symmetry to the picture.

All four of them were giggling at something or other that the cameraman was using to get their attention and it had obviously worked.

He admired the way that all four of them looked so much alike and were without a doubt the cutest things he'd ever seen (the only possible exception being the look that crossed Calleigh's face in the early morning right before she became conscious).

They all had the same caramel colored skin—halfway between his and Calleigh's—to go with a medium toned brown hair and these fantastic eyes. They were best described as hazel, but with Eric's own mixed race genes and the green eyes of their mother, the eyes that the kids had were quite unique. If you looked at them closely, there were slivers of brown, green, and blue all intertwined and melding to make a beautiful combination.

Despite their similar looks, their personalities were all rather distinctive. Matty had more energy than a nuclear war station and his moods ran very hot and cold, but he was a good and funny kid and always tried his hardest at everything he did.

Mari was just like her mother in most ways. She was reserved but passionate and had one of the sweetest countenances he'd ever encountered.

Ben was the funny one, always laughing about something—even as a baby he was always giggling—and it was hard to make him sit still and be serious when the occasion warranted such behavior.

As the baby, Olivia seemed to be a mixture of the older three. Like the women, she was reserved, but much less than her older sister; she was stubborn and had been known to ignore her parents when it came to getting what she wanted—something Eric prayed she would grow out of soon—but she nearly always wore a smile that melted the heart of anyone within viewing distance.

Looking at the four of them, so happy and cute, made Eric sigh with contentment. There were days when the kids drove him absolutely insane. With four of them, it was always something. A football game, or a dance recital, or a tummy ache, or bad dreams and more often than not, he was exhausted after a day of trying to keep up with them. Not to mention that he and Calleigh rarely had a moment alone together without worrying that a little head may pop in, but he'd always wanted a family and he couldn't imagine a more perfect one than the one he had.

* * *

A/N: So what did you think? This one is a bit different from the others in combining three pictures into one chapter, but I thought it worked. The next one should be up soon, I think there's about three chapters and an epilogue left. I'd love some feedback! Thanks!


	7. Chapter 6

_**Chapter Six**_

The first picture frame on the last shelf held a set of three small pictures of him and Calleigh looking much younger than they did now. It had to have been taken almost twelve years earlier, but Eric couldn't remember the exact date of when it had been.

He did remember that they'd only been dating for a few months when these had been taken.

)))

"_Calleigh?" Eric called out into the ballistics lab._

_No response._

"_Firing two!" he heard her call from the gel block that was hidden from his view behind a set of shelves that had boxes sitting on them._

_He waited until he'd heard the two shots before he wandered around the shelves and found her taking her earphones off._

"_Cal," he tried again._

"_My Lord, Eric. You scared me," she jumped and pressed a dainty hand to her chest._

"_Sorry, I called your name, but you must've already had your things on," he nodded to the earphones that she was placing back on their little stand._

"_What time is it?" she asked. They were supposed to go on a fancy date tonight, but a case had come in right before the end of shift and had kept them running. She'd been trying to keep an eye on the clock so that they could still try to make it, but she had no idea what time it was anymore._

"_Almost nine," he smiled mirthlessly._

"_Eric…I'm so sorry. I was trying to get done, but…" she sighed, looking genuinely sorry that it had gotten so late._

"_Don't worry about it, it's not your fault; I just finished up myself," Eric assured her._

"_Well I still feel bad. I was really looking forward to tonight," Calleigh said._

"_I know, I was too. But we can still go out," Eric suggested._

"_It's nine o'clock…the reservations were for seven thirty. It's not like they'll let us in now, those reservations were made like three weeks ago," Calleigh pointed out._

"_So? Why do we have to go there? There's a million other places in Miami that we can eat at," Eric pointed out to her._

"_Are you sure? You really wanted to go there," Calleigh reminded._

"_No, I really wanted to take you there. We work so much that we never get to take a break and when we _do_ get a break, we're both too tired to make ourselves look nice and go out. So it may not be what we planned, but lets go out anyway," Eric said._

_Calleigh grinned. She liked the idea of him wanted to take her out. "Okay."_

"_Okay. Do you want to go home first or just leave from here?" Eric asked._

"_If we're going out on a date, then you are absolutely going to come knock on the door to pick me up and then drool over how good I look," Calleigh told him._

"_I'm all for that—although, I must admit, I drool over you all the time," he grinned mischievously before sobering up and looking serious. "Are you sure though? Because then it'll be at least ten before we leave and it's been a long day."_

"_I happen to know that we both have tomorrow off, so even if we get back late, we can always just stay in bed all morning," Calleigh quirked an eyebrow at Eric._

"_How about we stay in bed all day?"_

"_I'll take the issue under advisement. Now go home and get ready and come get me at ten," Calleigh instructed._

"_Yes ma'am," Eric teased._

_)))_

_Eric jogged up the steps of Calleigh's building just as the clock ticked to 10:00 PM. He knocked before the minute changed, so he figured that counted as being on time._

_The door opened and Eric didn't deliver on his promise to drool, instead, the breath was fairly squeezed out of him when Calleigh opened the door._

_She was wearing blue dress that stopped well before her knees and dipped well into her cleavage._

"_You look nice," Calleigh told him after taking in his crisp white shirt and freshly laundered black dress pants._

"_You look…" Eric searched for a non-clichéd word to describe her. "Drool-worthy."_

_Calleigh laughed and kissed him on the cheek. "That's just what I was going for."_

_He led her to his car and they drove off to a little Italian restaurant that he'd been to a few times and had always really liked. _

_Unfortunately, the restaurant was hosting some sort of party and wasn't taking any walk-ins for the night and the Mexican place next door had had a power outage and was closed._

"_Wow…we kind of suck at trying to go on a date," Calleigh couldn't help but chuckle as Eric shook his head and rubbed his face roughly. _

_By this point, they were both starving so they'd wandered into a small pizza shop and taken a seat in one of the booths after Eric had placed their order up at the counter._

"_I'm sorry babe…I really wanted tonight to be special and nice. You deserve to get to go on a nice date," Eric sighed._

"_This is fine, Eric. It doesn't matter," Calleigh assured him, her hand reaching out and stroking his arm gently._

"_I was just kind of hoping to go somewhere with real glasses for wine and, I don't know, maybe nice china or something…not paper plate and napkins," Eric pointed out, waving his Coke-filled, blue wax-coated paper cup around._

"_Whatever," Calleigh shrugged and took a sip of her own diet Coke. "This is still fun."_

"_Well I'll make it up to you, we'll go out to a nice place soon," Eric swore._

"_Eric, I'm serious, I don't mind," Calleigh could tell that this was really bothering him and she didn't want it to. "I like spending time with you, even if it's just going out for pizza…in formalwear," she laughed as she took in their fancy appearances._

_Eric finally broke into a grin. "This is why I love you. Most girls would be annoyed and upset and think that this is beneath them…but not you."_

_Calleigh stared at him. He loved her? Why would this fantastic guy possibly love _her_? _

"_What's wrong?" Eric asked, his brow furrowing._

"_Why would you love me?" Calleigh asked quietly._

_Eric silently cursed himself. He hadn't meant to let the words out. Of course he loved her, but he'd been moving at a snail's pace, trying not to scare her away and he certainly hadn't meant to slip and tell her just yet. "What do you mean _why_?" he asked._

"_You could have anyone…why would you love me?"_

"_Cal…are you serious? Why _wouldn't_ I love you? You're perfect. Well, you're not perfect—no one is, I know that, but to me you are perfect. Don't doubt that for a second," Eric squeezed her hand. He never understood why she sold herself so short. It was like she didn't believe that she was worthy, but he couldn't have disagreed more._

"_I love you too, for the record. Obviously it doesn't have as big an impact because you said it first, but it's still true," Calleigh told him quietly._

_Eric burst into a huge smile. He reached across the small table and gripped her jaw in his large hand. His thumb stroked her cheek softly and pulled her toward him, kissing her with evident passion._

_There was an awkward clearing of a throat and Eric pulled back. Standing next to the table, with a stack of paper plates and a steaming pizza, was an extremely uncomfortable looking sixteen year old._

"_Thanks man," Eric grinned and leaned back in his seat, not taking his eyes off Calleigh who looked absolutely radiant across the table._

_As they ate, they basked in easy and light conversation that was full of laughter and teasing, just like things usually were between them. _

"_Are you too tired for a walk?" Eric asked once they'd finished._

"_No…a walk sounds nice," Calleigh agreed easily._

_They took their sodas with them and walked the two blocks over to the nearby boardwalk. "It's a gorgeous night," Calleigh commented as Eric threw his arm around her shoulders and drew her closer as they strolled._

"_It certainly is. I love you Cal," Eric smiled down at her._

_Calleigh lit up. "I love you too. You know…I have to admit…I didn't think it would be so easy."_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_I don't know…I've just never said it to anyone before, so I thought it would be hard to get used to it. But you know…it's been like an hour and it's already easy for me to say," Calleigh explained._

"_I guess that just means that you mean it," Eric grinned happily._

"_I do mean it," Calleigh agreed._

"_Did you say that you've never said it before?" Eric asked suddenly, the rest of her words finally penetrating his foggy mind._

"_Yeah," Calleigh nodded._

"_Not even to Jake?" Eric asked, surprised._

"_No…Jake isn't exactly the declaration type of guy," Calleigh shook her head and shrugged indifferently. "Plus…I don't know that either of us really ever felt that way."_

"_Oh," Eric said. He'd always just assumed that she and Jake had been that close._

"_You can knock that smirk off your face, you know. Jake is completely in my past so you don't have to be all superior," Calleigh rolled her eyes._

_Eric, who hadn't even realized he was smirking, laughed. "How do you know that was why I was smirking?" he challenged. Of course it was, but he didn't have to admit it._

"_Oh it wasn't? Then why, pray tell, do you have that smirk glued on so tightly?"_

_Eric spoke without thinking; he didn't have time to think. "A photo booth, I saw it and I think we should get a strip of pictures," he pointed to the little booth on the edge of the boardwalk._

_Calleigh rolled her eyes. She knew without a doubt that he was smirking about Jake, but it didn't really matter, so she allowed him to drag her over and pull her inside._

_)))_

The three pictures were in black and white and, while Calleigh was parked on his lap in all of them and their blue paper soda cups were visible resting on the little shelf next to them, each of the three was in a very different vein of feeling.

The top most was the pair of them with normal, brilliant smiles. Their faces were close together, hers tipped just slightly to lean against his lightly, both sets of eyes sparkling.

The middle one had captured their teasing nature. Eric's eyes were crossed and his tongue was poking out, bent upward toward the tip of his nose. Calleigh had both of her cheeks puffed out huge and her eyes wide and her eyebrows high like she was surprised.

Eric remembered how right after the click of the picture, all the air in Calleigh's cheeks had burst out on a peal of bell-like laughter and it had taken them a few moments to get themselves under control for the third picture.

Calleigh had then turned to Eric and stroked his cheek; he remembered the words that she'd spoken as if she'd just said them to him. _"Eric…this is the best date I've ever been on. Truly. Even if we didn't get to do the fancy thing."_

He'd leaned in and kissed her and that kiss is exactly what the third and final picture on the strip had captured.

After that night, Eric had of course taken Calleigh on some fancy dates, but he'd felt a lot less pressure to make every date perfect because as long as they were spending time together, they were having fun.

Even to present day, the pair of them still went back to that pizza shop sometimes—in normal clothes as opposed to formalwear—and just remembered the way that they'd felt that first time there. Sure, their love had changed and grown over the years, but that first confession would always hold a place in both of their hearts.

Eric picked up the next one and felt his heart squeeze a little, it truly just perfectly captured the love he felt for his family.

* * *

_A/N: So, there's the next installment! I have to admit, some of the best dates I've ever been on have been the ones that went completely wrong. Plus, I feel like Eric and Calleigh are both relaxed enough that this could happen. Anyway, thank you so so much to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, I got some really great feedback and I really appreciate it; it pretty much inspired me to write more, faster :). So, let me know what you thought about this one! Thanks! (And sorry if there are any mistakes, this is un-betaed, but I think I caught most of them)  
_


	8. Chapter 7

_**Chapter Seven**_

Eric had wanted kids for as long as he could remember. Calleigh admitted freely that she liked the idea of having kids, but she also freely admitted that she doubted her abilities to be a good mother. Eric had done everything he could to convince her otherwise—including a week of watching five nieces and nephews at once while his sisters went on vacation—and eventually he'd managed to get her to accept an 'if it happens, it happens' attitude.

The day that he'd walked into their house to find her sitting on the couch with a nervous smile had been shocking and absolutely fabulous. Once the twins were born and Calleigh realized that they could handle it together, it'd been much easier to convince her to try for another one.

That had been a rocky road; trying to get pregnant a second time had proved difficult and after three miscarriages and four and a half fruitless years, they'd been about to give up when she'd finally gotten pregnant with Ben. After how difficult it had been on them both, they decided that they were more than satisfied with three children and left it at that.

Olivia had been a surprise. A happy surprise, but a surprise nonetheless.

)))

"_Mami…quiero una historia," seven-year-old Mari whined crawling onto the bed with her nine-months pregnant mother. Matty was right at her heels and just-turned-two Ben was also trying to keep up, but he was having trouble climbing onto the high bed._

_Matty saw this and jumped off the bed and heaved the smaller boy up onto the mattress before scrambling back up himself._

"_I thought you guys were watching a movie downstairs with Daddy?" Calleigh asked the kids. She'd been put on bed rest for the remaining two weeks of her pregnancy and after four days, it was already driving her crazy._

_Eric had been trying to keep the kids busy so that she wouldn't be tempted to get up and move around, but it was a tough task trying to keep up with three kids as energetic and in to everything as theirs were._

"_We were, but Uncle Ryan called and Papi went onto the porch to talk to him and the movie isn't as fun without him," Matty supplied._

"_Ah, I see," Calleigh nodded, hoping that Eric wasn't getting a call out. There was no way she could handle putting all three of them to bed._

"_Cal? Are the kids in there?" she heard Eric's voice call from the other side of the house._

"_They sure are," Calleigh called back._

_She heard his heavy footsteps and then he appeared in the doorway looking sheepish when he saw that all three kids had apparently invited themselves to get comfortable surrounding their mother._

_He knew it was pointless to try to keep them away from her—even if only for two weeks—they loved being around her and always wanted a story from her or to play a game or whatever else. This fact, to be honest, was one that he loved—he'd know that she'd be a fantastic mother even if she hadn't known it herself._

"_Pensé que estábamos mirando Toy Story?" Eric asked, plopping himself on the bed against the headboard and allowing Ben to immediately crawl into his lap and rest his little curly head against Eric's chest._

"_We were, but we haven't seen Mami and Nudgie all day," Mari told her father._

_All three kids had started calling the baby 'Nudgie' because they could feel the baby kicking when they touched Calleigh's stomach and Matty had politely asked the baby to "stop nudging Mami because she needs to rest" and the name had sort stuck._

_Eric opened his mouth to explain that Calleigh needed to sleep, but she cut him off. "It's all right Eric," she met his eyes and he saw the sincerity. "If you get them to bed, they can hang out in here for a little first. I miss my munchkins."_

"_You guys hear that? You can stay in here with Mami and Nudgie if you promise to go to bed without whining when it's time," Eric told the kids seriously._

"_Prometemos," Mari promised immediately, speaking for not only herself but her brothers as well._

_Matty nodded eagerly at the promise and Ben nodded, but he was already starting to droop against Eric's chest._

_The little family spent the rest of the evening lounging in Calleigh and Eric's bed—he was thankful that they'd decided to go with king-sized instead of queen—just talking and listening to the kids regale Calleigh with every single minute of their day._

_Eric noticed Calleigh fading fast and saw it was the kids' bedtime so he reminded them of their promise and told them to say good night to their mother and Nudgie._

"_Buenas noches Mami," Matty smacked a kiss to his mothers cheek and wiggled himself down to her stomach. Without asking, he pushed her t-shirt up to expose her stomach like he did every night._

"_Buenas noches Nudgie. I hope you get here soon…I know that we can't play with you right away like we couldn't with Ben, but the sooner you get here, the sooner we can play," Matty said in a normal tone but then he dropped his voice to a whisper and got so close that his lips were almost touching his mother's navel. "And don't tell anyone I told you this…but I hope you're a girl. Mari wants you to be a girl, and I already have a little brother, so I guess a little sister would be okay too."_

_Calleigh and Eric met each other's eyes at his words and huge smiles burst across both of their faces. They hadn't told the kids, wanting it to be a surprise, but they already knew that they would, in fact, be adding a baby girl to their family._

_With that, Matty placed a kiss right on Calleigh's stomach and scooted off the bed._

"_Good night Nudgie," Mari said sleepily and also slid off of the bed._

"_I'll be right back babe," Eric told Calleigh and gave her a quick kiss on the lips as he hoisted the snoozing Ben into his arms and followed the kids with the intention of tucking them all in and then returning to bed with his wife._

_)))_

_Eric opened his eyes, and it took him a second to focus enough to figure out what had drawn him from his peaceful slumber. Calleigh was standing over him and, though the bathroom light was the only light source so she was mostly in shadows, he could see the calm but urgent look on her face._

"_Eric," she said and he could tell that this wasn't the first time she'd called his name._

_He sat up quickly, trying to get his bearings. "Cal, what's wrong?"_

"_My water broke," Calleigh told him, a hand resting on her stomach._

_Eric sprang out of bed and had to brace himself on the dresser for a moment when all of the blood rushed to his head and made him dizzy for a couple of seconds._

"_Sit down. Just stay calm," Eric said, panic seeping into his voice._

_Calleigh actually laughed at him. "I _am_ calm. Can you get the kids ready? I'll call your mom and tell her we're on our way."_

_Eric finally shook the last of the cobwebs from his mind and nodded. He hurried out of the room and woke the twins, helping them both get their overnight bags and sent them to wait by the door while he collected the sleeping two-year-old and their mother._

"_Okay, kids are ready, I just need to get Ben, but I don't want to wake him. Come on, lets go, I heard that labor is much shorter once you've given birth more than once or twice," Eric told Calleigh in a rushed voice when he basically ran back into the bedroom._

_Calleigh rolled her eyes but lumbered to her feet and picked up the small bag that was waiting by the door._

"_I've got that Cal, don't worry," Eric smacked at her hands._

"_Eric, you have to carry Ben and like you said, we don't want to wake him. I can handle this bag, I swear," Calleigh assured him._

"_Fine, but come on, we're all ready and I'll just feel a lot better when we're at the hospital," Eric admitted, his voice somewhat frantic._

"_Eric," Calleigh's voice called him back from the hallway._

"_What? Are you okay? Are you having a contraction? Are you okay?" Eric was at her side in a moment._

"_I'm fine. But, as much as I'd like a distraction while I'm doing all that pushing, I don't know what the hospital's policy is on 'no shirt, no shoes, no service' but I'm guessing they encourage a state of full dress," Calleigh told him, a glint in her eyes._

_Eric stared at her for a second but then looked down and saw that in his rush he hadn't gotten dressed and he was still wearing just a pair of plaid boxers. "Oh…right."_

"_It's gonna be fine. Just get dressed and meet me at the car," Calleigh told him, laying a gentle hand on his shoulder._

_He was about to agree when he felt her hand clench where it sat against his skin. Her face twisted in pain and her free hand went to her stomach. "Contraction?" he asked gently and she nodded tensely._

"_Just breathe through it, it's okay, come on, lets sit down," Eric said soothingly and led her to the bed carefully._

"_Okay, I'm all right," Calleigh came back to herself after a moment._

"_New plan, you stay right here while I get dressed and I'll help you down to the car and then get Ben," Eric told her over his shoulder and quickly pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt before slipping on his sneakers._

_)))_

"_Olivia Grace," Calleigh whispered softly as she stared down at the little bundle in her arms._

"_You did great baby," Eric told her as he kissed her temple gently. He had his arm wrapped around her tightly and the other arm under hers so that they were both supporting the baby together._

"_Mami!" they heard a little voice screech._

_They looked to the door and saw Ben was the one who had spoken from his Abuela's arms and he was reaching out to his parents. Matty and Mari, on the other hand, were unhindered and didn't wait for an invitation as they launched themselves at the bed._

"_Tienen cuidado, okay? Remember how Mami was sore after Ben was born and we had to be careful with her? It's the same way now, all right?" Eric warned the twins, but helped them climb up on to the bed._

_They both nodded and Mari immediately settled herself in his lap and Matty scrambled to the other side of the bed, resting his head on Calleigh's shoulder._

"_Está bueno Mami. Ben puede venir aquí," Eric told his mom and patted his lap next to Mari._

_Once Ben was settled next to Mari with Eric's arm around both of them to keep them from tumbling, he heard Calleigh speak and he couldn't help but grin._

"_Guys…this is your little sister, Olivia."_

_)))_

The picture had been snapped right then by Eric's mother.

Olivia's little head poked out above the blankets, resting on the crook of Calleigh's elbow. Calleigh had both of her arms supporting the baby, with Matty leaning heavily against her right arm, staring down at the little bundle with awe on his little face. Calleigh's face was twisted in a huge grin and though she'd just been through labor, Eric thought she looked beautiful.

Eric himself was stationed on Calleigh's left side, his right arm still around her as he also gazed down at the new little addition to their family. Mari was sitting on Eric's lap, almost at his knees, and her face mirror the look that was on her twin's face. It was obvious that she was ecstatic that it was a girl and she had a look of awe that was perfectly adorable. The cherry on the cake, though, was Ben.

Ben was sitting right against Eric's chest and had actually leaned over and placed a soft kiss on the crown of his baby sister's head just as the picture was snapped.

Eric chuckled when he remembered that not twenty seconds after the picture had been taken, the baby had started crying and then Ben had started crying because he thought he'd hurt her and the moment had deteriorated, but hey, they'd gotten a great picture first, the rest is just life.

* * *

_A/N: So what did you think? The whole not being dressed and trying to hurry out of the house like that is actually what happened when I was born, but I've always thought it was kind of funny, so I kind of liked it in here. Anyway, this is un-betaed, but I think I caught most of the mistakes, let me know if there are any big issues. In terms of the rest of this story, I've finished writing everything, there are two more real chapters and an epilogue and they should all be put up over the next two weeks I would guess. I also have another Calleigh/Eric story in the works (though I haven't actually written it yet), so keep an eye out for that! Hope you enjoyed!_


	9. Chapter 8

_**Chapter Eight**_

Eric picked up the next picture and lingered over it for a second before letting the memories flow. It was new—Calleigh had only put it there about a month ago—so he hadn't had the same amount of time to memorize every single detail of it yet.

_)))_

"_Papi…sabes dónde está mi traje de baño__?" Mari asked her father in a rush after searching through the drawers of her dresser._

"_Did you look on the drying rack in the laundry room?" Eric asked, hardly looking up from where he was helping Olivia into her swimming diaper. He couldn't wait until she would be out of diapers and he'd never have to deal with the things again. Her second birthday was just a month removed, so he was hopeful that that day would be soon._

_Mari hurried out of the room and Eric turned his attention back to Olivia._

"_Nadar hoy__?" Olivia asked and Eric smiled at her adorable sentence structure (or lack thereof) and sent up a thank you to the Gods that Calleigh was not only okay with their children growing up bilingual, but encouraged it as much as he did. There was nothing more precious than hearing their little voices talk in his native tongue without a second thought._

"_Si, puedes nadar con mi__," Eric nodded._

_Olivia squealed with joy and clapped her little hands._

"_What's going on in here?" Calleigh stepped into the room at the sound of her daughter's laughter._

"_Nothing, we're just getting ready. She wants to swim today," Eric told his wife, not looking up as he slid the little dress over Olivia's head. He scooped the little girl into his arms and stood up to face Calleigh._

"_What?" Calleigh asked seeing the dumbfounded look on Eric's face as he gazed at her._

"_I just sometimes forget how perfect you are…it should be illegal for someone to look that good in a bikini after four kids…unless we want to try for a fifth," Eric wiggled his eyesbrows devilishly as he took in Calleigh's simple black bikini._

_Calleigh flushed lightly, but kept her composure. She rolled her eyes and shrugged lightly at Eric. "I have to look good to keep up with my husband."_

_Eric got a predatory grin and approached her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and drawing her close. "You're gorgeous," he whispered before he sealed his lips to hers._

_He'd forgotten that he was currently holding their youngest on his other arm, but he was reminded rather quickly when Olivia smacked him on the side of the head._

"_No kissy," she commanded her parents._

_They both chuckled, but the moment was effectively ruined, so Eric just shook his head and pressed his lips to Calleigh's forehead before stepping away. "__Lo siento, princesa__."_

_Olivia seemed to accept his apology, but squirmed to get out of his arms._

"_Did Mari find her bathing suit?" Eric asked as he set the little girl on the floor._

"_Is that was she was in the laundry room for? I'm not sure if she found it, but I know where it is. Are the boys ready?" Calleigh asked over her shoulder as she immediately sprang into Mommy-Mode and was halfway down the hallway to retrieve the missing bathing suit._

"_I'll check," Eric told her. _

_)))_

"_Now remember, stay where we can see you please," Calleigh warned as the nine-year-old twins prepared to launch themselves into the ocean._

"_Sí Mami, sabemos__," Mari agreed and took off with Matty at her heels, both of them with snorkels and masks in their hands._

_The love for water was something all four kids had inherited from their father and simple days spent on the beach and in the ocean was just about their favorite past time, so Eric and Calleigh did their best to take them whenever they had a day off together._

"_I want to go too!" Ben yelled from Eric's arms and twisted his body, trying to get down._

"_Sorry Buddy, but you have to go with me while Mari and Matty are out deeper," Eric reminded the little boy._

_Ben immediately crossed his arms and turned his head away, face in full pout._

"_What Papi isn't good enough?" Eric asked jokingly._

"_I wanna play with Matty," Ben whined._

"_You can play with Matty after lunch, okay? Let him and Mari swim out in the deeper for a little. Come on, we can have fun too," Eric suggested._

_Ben nodded. He didn't look overly happy about it, but he wasn't about to turn down the opportunity to play with his Daddy either._

"_We'll come too," Calleigh offered, bouncing Olivia on her hip. "You wanna go play with Papi and Ben?"_

"_Yeah!" Olivia nodded enthusiastically._

_After making sure that nothing would blow away from their blanket, Calleigh and Eric took their two youngest to the water's edge. While keeping a careful eye on the twins who were playing a bit further out, they picked seashells, built sandcastles, and helped the kids swim through the water. Ben was already a little fish and could swim underwater without help, but Olivia was just getting started and more flailed and smacked the water than anything else._

_The morning passed quickly and soon, the Delko family was gathering around the picnic blanket and eating the sandwiches that Calleigh and Eric had prepared the night before after the kids went to bed so that they'd be ready._

"_No pueden jugar en al agua__," Calleigh reminded her children. She knew that it was an old wives' tale that you couldn't swim for twenty minutes after eating, but she didn't think it was a bad idea anyway, God forbid one of them get a cramp while they were swimming and not be able to swim back in._

"_But I'm not even that full, I'd be fine," Matty argued, just like he always did._

"_Matty, you know the rules," Calleigh shook her head._

"_But, I'm fine!" Matty said stubbornly._

"_Eric," Calleigh sighed, looking for some backup._

"_Matty, listen to your mother," Eric called over his shoulder from where he was wiping the mustard off of Ben's face._

_Calleigh rolled her eyes at his oh-so-helpful admonishment and turned back to Matty, still ready for a fight. "We're not having this argument again. If you won't follow the rules, then you can go to Abuela's on the next beach day."_

_Matty's jaw dropped. Calleigh met his gaze evenly and Matty finally sighed and crossed his arms. "Fine. Can I at least build a sandcastle?"_

"_Of course. I bet your brother and sisters would even like to help you," Calleigh nodded._

_Matty gave her one last glare before picking up the pail on the edge of the blanket and going off on his own, as if his actions would spite his mother. Mari seized Olivia's arm and dragged her along to help Matty with the castle._

"_Are Ryan and Natalia still meeting us?" Eric asked, sinking into one of the two low beach chairs after he sent Ben off to join the other kids._

"_Yeah, they were gonna head over right after lunch, so they should be here soon," Calleigh nodded._

"_We're here now," Ryan's voice said behind them. Calleigh and Eric turned and saw that Ryan was right there with two more beach chairs under his arm and Natalia and 5-year-old Zack were only about ten yards behind him; Zack was dragging a bright red and yellow kite behind himself._

"_You're just in time, Zack, the kids just started building a sandcastle," Calleigh told the boy and pointed over to the kids._

"_Awesome!" Zack said and dropped the set of flippers he was carrying. He was about to launch himself into full sprint when Ryan grabbed him by the back of his shirt._

"_Shirt off, kiddo. You don't want to get sand all through it," Ryan told him. Zack shimmied out of his t-shirt and ran off after throwing the shirt as his dead._

"_Glad I function well as a coat hanger," Ryan grumbled and dropped onto the chair that Eric had just unfolded for him._

"_You shall survive," Natalia rolled her eyes and folded Zack's shirt before setting it in their beach bag for safe keeping. Ryan sent a playful glare back at her, but said nothing else._

"_Papi! Puedes ayudarnos__?" Ben stumbled over to the blanket, sand flying behind him._

"_Por supuesto mijito__," Eric agreed with a grin. "Ryan?" he asked his friend._

"_I'm in, you ladies can hold down the fort?" Ryan asked seriously._

"_I think we can handle it," Calleigh rolled her eyes with a grin._

"_Did you ever think is what our future was?" Natalia asked as they watched their husbands join the kids and immediately fall into a rhythm with them._

"_No, definitely not. I knew that I _wanted_ Eric in my future, but I never thought that we'd end up here on the beach with our best friends and the five kids that we have between us. It's still surreal sometimes," Calleigh admitted._

"_I know what you mean…to be honest, I still feel like that clueless kid. I just can't believe the kids are all growing up so fast," Natalia sighed._

"_Someone's a little sleepy," Eric's voice called their attention. He had Olivia in his arms and she was snuggled against his bare chest with a cranky look on her face. He set her down on the blanket and she immediately crawled into Calleigh lap and stuck her thumb in her mouth._

"_Thanks babe," Calleigh smiled up at him._

"_Love you," he said as a second nature and bent to kiss her quickly before joining in the epic sandcastle building that was taking place._

"_Maybe they aren't growing up _too_ fast," Calleigh grinned over at Natalia and looked back down at the toddler in her arms._

"_It's gonna feel like tomorrow that she's eighteen and going off to college," Natalia sighed._

_Calleigh pressed her lips to her daughter's forehead and resolved just to enjoy it day by day._

_)))_

Eric remembered watching with adoration and devotion as his wife had seamlessly accepted the toddler and Olivia had cuddled up to her mother without a second thought. Calleigh was so good with the kids and there was nothing Eric liked more than watching them interact.

The afternoon had continued with laughter and smiles all around, culminating with everyone helping to carry all of the stuff back down the beach to Calleigh and Eric's house where they grilled hamburgers and hotdogs and ate on the edge of the beach in their backyard.

The picture that Eric held in his hands had been taken by Alexx who had been waiting at their house for them to get back. She and her family and Horatio and Kyle and Valera had all joined them for dinner and ensured that it was a raucous affair.

All eight people in the picture were covered in sand and each wore a big smile. Ben was riding on Ryan's shoulders, his hands buried in Ryan's hair and a squeal of laughter evident on his tiny face. Ryan had a towel around his arm and a beach chair in one hand. The other hand was gripping one handle of a larger blue cooler.

Eric—who had Mari hanging off his back, her face resting on his shoulder next to his face—had the other handle and perched grinning right on the cooler like a little princess was Olivia. She had a hooded Elmo towel wrapped around her, complete with eyes sticking out the top so that it looked like Elmo was hugging her from behind.

Calleigh was on Ryan's other side, a hand on Zack's shoulder as he leaned most of his weight against both her and his father. He had the kite in one hand, adding a splash of color to one corner of the picture.

Natalia was on the other side, next to Eric. She had the final two beach chairs in her arms and Matty directly in front of her, leaning back against the chairs. They all looked sun kissed and a little tired from a day on the beach, but they were all happy and that much was very obvious. Eric thought it represented them quite well, if he said so himself.

* * *

_A/N: I wasn't too too comfortable writing Natalia and Ryan, so I didn't put much of them in there, but I thought it was important to show that Ryan and Natalia have played a huge role in their lives, not just at work but in their personal lives as well. Anyway, I just like the idea that they'll all stay close even when they have kids. And I also like the idea of Calleigh and Eric both using spanish with the kids, so I tried to include that. I don't think I used TOO much (and I used pretty simple-ish phrases), but if I did or you have trouble understanding it, feel free to ask about it. This was the last real chapter of this story! There will be an epilogue up in the next week or so (I had it written and decided I hated it so I deleted it, but I don't seem to be a big fan of anything else I've tried for it either, so it may be a few days until I finish it). On another note, thank you so so much to everyone who has read this story and especially to everyone who has reviewed. I always intend to respond to each review, but life sometimes gets in the way. I really to appreciate the kind words and everything else, thank you guys so much!_


	10. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Eric had just picked up a picture off the next shelf down when he heard the front door open. He turned his head and saw his family piling inside, led by the twins.

"Papi!" Eric heard and Ben came shooting out from between his older brother and sister and flung himself at Eric's legs.

"Hey Buddy, cómo estás? Did you have fun at Abuela's?" Eric asked his younger son, lifting the four-year-old into his arms easily.

"Sí," Ben nodded vigorously.

"Good. And did you behave yourself?" Eric prompted.

"Por supuesto," Ben grinned and Eric rolled his eyes. "Mami compró pizza para la cena."

"Oh she did, did she?" Eric looked up and saw that, indeed, Calleigh had Olivia cradled on her left arm and two pizzas balanced on her right hand.

Ben nodded again.

"Well why don't you run and put your shoes away and wash your hands and we'll eat some pizza?" Eric suggested. After Ben nodded for a third time, Eric smacked a kiss onto the boy's forehead and watched him run down the hall to his room.

"Hi Papi, Mami dijo que tenemos que lavar los manos para la cena," Mari reported to her father as she and Matty chased each other down the hallway with Olivia toddling along behind them.

Eric couldn't believe how big they were, the twins were nine and a half almost and Olivia was already over two years old, he glanced at a picture on the next shelf of the twins when they were only a month or so old. They were sleeping in the crib together and their little arms had linked around each other. They were so precious, so tiny. He couldn't believe that those same little babies were the big kids that he could hear splashing water on each other and laughing loudly at the sink down the hall.

"What're you doing in here?" Eric heard his wife's voice behind him, followed immediately by her little arms wrapping around his midsection. He could feel her face resting against his back.

"Just looking at all the pictures," Eric admitted. He turned in her arms and wrapped his own around her, holding her close.

"How come?" Calleigh asked.

"I like seeing how far we've come," he said simply.

"Look at you, a closet softy," Calleigh teased, grinning up at him, her green eyes sparkling.

"You love it," he shrugged, not able to keep the grin off his own face.

"I love _you_," she corrected him.

"I love you too, baby," he leaned down and kissed her softly, letting his lips dance lightly across hers.

"Can we have pizza now?" Mari ran back into the room, breaking them apart immediately.

"I don't know, it's up to you. We can only have pizza if you give me a big hug and a kiss," Eric told her. He picked her up and flipped her upside down, making her squeal with laughter and flail against him.

"Papi! I can't give you a hug and a kiss upside down!" she pointed out once she'd stopped screeching.

"Excellent point, princesa," he flipped her right side up in his arms and held her out in front of him.

She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed tightly, smacking a kiss to his cheek in the process. "I love you Papi," she tells him.

"I love you too," Eric tells her, smile blossoming across his features.

"Pizza now?" she said hopefully.

He laughed and nodded, helping her climb around his torso onto his back. He headed toward the kitchen where he could Calleigh talking to Matty and sliding Olivia into her highchair.

"Come on buddy, you don't want to miss pizza!" Eric scooped up Ben as well, with Mari still on his back. He carried them both into the kitchen and helped everyone finish getting situated before he helped Calleigh pass out the cheesy slices to everyone.

Eric took a moment to observe the people around him. Matty, waving his hands as he told a story about the park with Mari interjecting from beside him; Ben, with sauce dripping down his chin onto his shirt, leaving what was sure to be a permanent stain; Olivia picking up to chunks of pizza that he'd cut up for her and eating them with intense concentration; and finally Calleigh whose eyes were sparkling with laughter at Matty, asking questions in all the right places, while she simultaneously kept an eye on Olivia and reached a deft hand out to dab at Ben's shirt when she spotted the sauce.

No wonder he liked having all those pictures around, that way, even when his family wasn't physically with him, he could keep all the memories close at hand.

"Eric?" Calleigh's voice broke him out of his trance.

"What?"

Calleigh cocked an eyebrow at him, but it was Mari who spoke. "Geez Papi. Matty said your name like five times, but you just sat there staring at Mami."

"What can I say? Your Mami is a beautiful lady…I could stare at her all day long," Eric teased. "Now you have my undivided attention, I promise." The rest of the pictures could wait for another time, it was time to enjoy the real, live moment.

* * *

_A/N: And here is the end! I know it's been ages since I updated, and I don't actually have a good reason, because this has been written for over a month. I just got caught up in school and life and such (I changed my major so it's been a pain in the butt this semester). Anyway, thank you so much to every single person who has read this story and an extra thanks to everyone who has reviewed. You guys really made this worth it. Thanks so much, I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing this one!_


End file.
